


Anything

by AllyBallyBee



Category: EastEnders (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:07:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27812035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllyBallyBee/pseuds/AllyBallyBee
Summary: A canon for the night following on from Phil finding the bug on Friday 27th November episode.
Relationships: Callum "Halfway" Highway/Ben Mitchell
Comments: 2
Kudos: 54





	Anything

27th November 2020 

Callum was lying right at the edge of his side of the bed facing outward, his body rigid and tense as a coiled spring. His eyes were tight shut, and he was trying to take slow breaths, pretending he was asleep. Wishing he was asleep. Peaceful slumber, however, was eluding him. 

  
He had only needed five seconds. Five more seconds and the bug would have been in his pocket and this hell could have been on it’s way to being over. Instead, Phil had come back, and Callum had panicked, scattering those stupid invoices and now things were worse than ever. 

  
“I know you’re still awake babe.” 

  
Callum didn’t respond, his only reaction being to cringe, his only movement being screwing his face up as he heard his boyfriend’s voice, which although soft, had an air of resignation about it too. 

  
“Babe?” 

  
Callum felt Ben rolling over and then a hand tentatively placed on his arm. He slowed his breathing even more, hoping Ben would be convinced that he was actually sleeping. 

  
“Babe, please. Tell me. Is it that you want to move out?” 

  
Callum’s eyes shot open and he flipped round to face his lover as he exclaimed “What?! No! Why would you even think that?!” 

  
Ben looked up at him and Callum’s heart broke at the pain he saw in the vivid blue eyes. 

  
“Well, apart from when I showed how proud of you I was the other day, I think we had more sex during lockdown than we’ve had since you moved in.” He paused as his lips formed a little pout. “That an’ the pretending to be asleep.” 

  
Caught, Callum blinked slowly to try and mask the pain that was now in _his_ eyes. He leaned forward and placed the softest of kisses on Ben’s lips to hopefully erase the pout before saying “I’m sorry, it’s just work’s got me so stressed out – it’s so different to when it was in lockdown. It’s really full on now. I just need time to adjust.” 

  
Ben sighed before he said “Callum, we can’t keep having conversations that go round and round like this. It just feels… It feels like you don’t wanna be here. It feels like, you don’t wanna be… “ he sighed as he lowered his eyes. 

  
“Don’t wanna be what?” Callum shelved his fingers under Ben’s chin to gently lift his gaze back to him. 

  
Ben looked up at him from under his dark lashes. “It feels like you don’t want to be with me anymore.” The pitch of his voice giving away the nervousness and truth with which he spoke. 

  
Callum’s heart truly broke at that point. Hearing the vulnerability in Ben’s voice made his stomach lurch. Ben had done so well, so, so well. He’d had so much thrown at him this year; Callum knew how guilty Ben had felt when Keanu had kidnapped him, but at the same time he lost his brother, lost his hearing, then the torture that Danny put him through firing the gun to his good ear, and then Covid had come, shutting the world down and forcing him into lockdown with his dad, but he’d battled through it, fought his way through everything, finally having the operation he’d been so desperate for too. He had been brave and come out the other side of all of it stronger and happier. The sexy sass had came back and then he’d gone and thought up that goofy doorkey “proposal”. They should be in a honeymoon phase of living together. It was killing Callum that they should be so sullied by his fucking dickhead of a DI. 

  
“Oh, Ben. Ben, how could you ever think that?”

  
“I don’t want family stuff getting in the way of your career Cal, but I think that’s maybe what’s going on?” 

  
“Ben, I promise you, look at me….” Callum placed his hand gently to Ben’s face, “I promise you; I would choose you over the police every single day of the week and twice on Sundays. But I want to try and make both work if I can. It’s just taking me some time to adjust, that’s all. You are the number one most important thing in my life, and I’ll do anything, _anything_ , for you.” 

  
“I don’t deserve you.” Ben spoke almost in a whisper, the sass with which he had delivered the same statement this morning, gone. 

  
“Remember the day I came out to my dad in the pub? Just before he came in, I said to you that I decide what I deserve?” Ben nodded and Callum continued, “well, I think I should decide what you deserve too.” 

  
Ben’s face broke out in a cutely bashful smile and Callum’s heart melted. He realised he needed to file away his worries for now and show his boyfriend, his _soulmate_ , that at least one of them thought Ben deserved the world. He leaned forward and kissed him again, softly as before but lingering this time.

  
When he pulled away, Ben craned his neck, reaching for more and Callum felt a surge of love and more than a little desire as he looked at his blissed-out expression. He leaned back in to kiss again when Ben pulled him in cheek to cheek so he could nibble Callum’s ear and breathlessly whisper, “You’ll do anything…?

  
Callum threw his head back in laughter and relief flooded through Ben as he felt his boyfriend’s body relax for the first time in days. 

  
When Callum looked at Ben again, his eyes darkened as he moved to kiss him once more. He stopped briefly just to whisper back,

“ ** _Anything_** …” 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoy this, my first shot at a one shot. All kudos and comments gratefully accepted! 
> 
> You can find me on Twitter @SchmallumCallum


End file.
